Jimbo Fisher claims ACC, Big 12 teams are becoming 'glorified junior colleges'

From where Jimbo Fisher sits now, after years of coaching high-level college football programs, he sees a clear divide between the well-resourced programs in the SEC, Big Ten and a few other conferences and the rest of the world of college football. He went so far as to allude to certain FBS schools functionally becoming developmental stops.

During an interview on Sirius XM radio, Fisher expounded on his views of the diverging nature in these tranches of programs. And he only thinks things are likely to become worse as more athletes transfer to play for the SEC and Big Ten programs with oodles of cash.

“Here’s what’s happening, all of your mid-majors and a lot of your not-mid-majors, I’m going to say some of your ACC, Big 12, old Pac-12, some of those leagues, they’re becoming glorified junior colleges,” Fisher said. “And some of those teams used to battle for playoffs and have great teams. They took that three-star guy or that four-star guy you missed and they developed him into a heck of a player and he became a great player at their school. 

Fisher used arguably the best football player currently alive to make his argument: Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who was drafted out of Texas Tech with the No. 10 overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft.

In the current paradigm of the sport, Fisher suspects that a player like Mahomes wouldn’t spend so long at a program that isn’t competing for championships, and would look to transfer to a bigger power that’s more competitive and lucrative.

And as long as some programs are coming from a position of power in terms of finances and seeming access to competing for championships, Fisher doesn’t see this new dynamic slowing down as high-level college football heads towards an employment-like model.

“How about Patrick Mahomes at Texas Tech? Would he have ever stayed at Texas Tech? Somebody would have came and got him,” Fisher said. “You know what I’m saying? And what’s happening, your haves are out there saying, ‘OK, I need a corner and I need a tackle and I need a running back.’ And they’re going to these four-year schools and just selecting, and those guys are really becoming glorified junior colleges, and it’s a shame. I mean great college football programs that have won big in the past and have had tremendously great players. But that what’s changed.”